Dateline: January 13, 2005

Drug bust lands three behind bars for meth

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Two Hedley men are facing drug related charges after Sheriff Butch Blackburn caught them in what appeared to be a drug lab in a small travel trailer near Clarendon last month.

Arlington Barnes, age 49, and Billy Mullins, age 38, were arrested December 15 and charged with manufacturing methamphetamines with intent to distribute.

A third arrest in the same case was made this week, when Elk City, Okla., police picked up Shirley Jones of Memphis on Sunday.

Blackburn, who began his second term in office as sheriff on January 1,  said his department had been observing the trailer about 20 yards off County Road 13 eight miles south of Clarendon for about two weeks after a citizen tipped them off about the possible presence of a meth lab.

“We knew there was a lab in the trailer and just wanted to catch someone in there,” Blackburn said.

When the sheriff finally found someone at the trailer, he moved in, arresting Barnes and Mullins, but he just missed Jones, who the other suspects told him had left a few moments earlier with some of their manufactured meth reportedly in her possession.

“We think she is one of our bigger dealers,” he said. “We’ve known for some time of her possibly being involved.”

The sheriff said Jones was already on parole for other charges and was currently out on bond for drug possession charges in Wheeler County.

Officers recovered drugs at the trailer, and a Department of Public Safety narcotics team examined the lab and kept the site secure before the scene was cleaned up by a private hazardous materials team from Oklahoma City.

Barnes and Mullins remained in the Donley County Jail at press time with bond set at $75,000 each. Jones was in a Beckham County, Okla., jail for the same charge and also had a bond set at $75,000.

“These arrests should put a dent in our local drug trade,” Sheriff Blackburn said. “It should help us, Hall County, and the surrounding area.”